Daniel 4

Da 4:1-37.

EDICT OF

NEBUCHADNEZZAR

CONTAINING

HIS

SECOND

DREAM,

RELATING TO

HIMSELF.

Punished with insanity for his haughtiness, he sinks to the level of the

beasts (illustrating

Ps 49:6, 12).

The opposition between bestial and human life, set forth here, is a key

to interpret the symbolism in the seventh chapter concerning the beasts

and the Son of man. After his conquests, and his building in fifteen

days a new palace, according to the heathen historian, ABYDENUS (268 B.C.), whose account

confirms Daniel, he ascended upon his palace roof

(Da 4:29,

Margin), whence he could see the surrounding city which he had

built, and seized by some deity, he predicted the Persian conquest of

Babylon, adding a prayer that the Persian leader might on his return be

borne where there is no path of men, and where the wild beasts graze

(language evidently derived by tradition from

Da 4:32, 33,

though the application is different). In his insanity, his

excited mind would naturally think of the coming conquest of Babylon by

the Medo-Persians, already foretold to him in the second chapter.

1. Peace--the usual salutation in the East, shalom, whence

"salaam." The primitive revelation of the fall, and man's alienation

from God, made "peace" to be felt as the first and deepest want of man.

The Orientals (as the East was the cradle of revelation) retained the

word by tradition.

2. I thought it good--"It was seemly before me"

(Ps 107:2-8).

signs--tokens significant of God's omnipotent agency. The plural is used, as it comprises the marvellous dream, the marvellous

interpretation of it, and its marvellous issue.

4. I was . . . at rest--my wars over, my kingdom at peace.

flourishing--"green." Image from a tree

(Jer 17:8).

Prosperous

(Job 15:32).

6. It may seem strange that Daniel was not first summoned. But it

was ordered by God's providence that he should be reserved to the last,

in order that all mere human means should be proved vain, before God

manifested His power through His servant; thus the haughty king was

stripped of all fleshly confidences. The Chaldees were the king's

recognized interpreters of dreams; whereas Daniel's interpretation of

the one in

Da 2:24-45

had been a peculiar case, and very many years before; nor had he been

consulted on such matters since.

8. Belteshazzar--called so from the god Bel or Belus

(see on

Da 1:7).

9. spirit of the holy gods--Nebuchadnezzar speaks as a heathen, who

yet has imbibed some notions of the true God. Hence he speaks of "gods"

in the plural but gives the epithet "holy," which applies to Jehovah

alone, the heathen gods making no pretension to purity, even in the

opinion of their votaries

(De 32:31;

compare

Isa 63:11).

"I know" refers to his knowledge of Daniel's skill many years before

(Da 2:8);

hence he calls him "master of the magicians."

troubleth--gives thee difficulty in explaining it.

10. tree--So the Assyrian is compared to a "cedar"

(Eze 31:3;

compare

Eze 17:24).

in the midst of the earth--denoting its conspicuous position as the

center whence the imperial authority radiated in all directions.

12. beasts . . . shadow under it--implying that God's

purpose in establishing empires in the world is that they may be as

trees affording men "fruits" for "meat," and a "shadow" for "rest"

(compare

La 4:20).

But the world powers abuse their trust for self; therefore Messiah comes

to plant the tree of His gospel kingdom, which alone shall realize God's

purpose

(Eze 17:23;

Mt 13:32).

HERODOTUS [7.19] mentions a dream (probably

suggested by the tradition of this dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel)

which Xerxes had; namely, that he was crowned with olive, and that the

branches of the olive filled the whole earth, but that afterwards the

crown vanished from his head: signifying his universal dominion soon to

come to an end.

13. watcher and an holy one--rather, "even an holy one." Only one angel is intended, and he not one of the bad, but of the holy angels.

Called a "watcher," because ever on the watch to execute God's will

[JEROME],

(Ps 103:20, 21).

Compare as to their watchfulness,

Re 4:8,

"full of eyes within . . . they rest not day and

night." Also they watch good men committed to their charge

(Ps 34:7;

Heb 1:14);

and watch over the evil to record their sins, and at God's bidding at

last punish them

(Jer 4:16, 17),

"watchers" applied to human instruments of God's vengeance. As

to GOD

(Da 9:14;

Job 7:12; 14:16;

Jer 44:27).

In a good sense

(Ge 31:49;

Jer 31:28).

The idea of heavenly "watchers" under the supreme God (called in the

Zendavesta of the Persian Zoroaster, Ormuzd) was founded

on the primeval revelation as to evil angels having watched for

an opportunity until they succeeded in tempting man to his ruin, and

good angels ministering to God's servants (as Jacob,

Ge 28:15; 32:1, 2).

Compare the watching over Abraham for good, and over Sodom for wrath

after long watching in vain for good men it it, for whose sake He would

spare it,

Ge 18:23-33;

and over Lot for good,

Ge 19:1-38

Daniel fitly puts in Nebuchadnezzar's mouth the expression, though not

found elsewhere in Scripture, yet substantially sanctioned by it

(2Ch 16:9;

Pr 15:3;

Jer 32:19),

and natural to him according to Oriental modes of thought.

14. Hew down--

(Mt 3:10;

Lu 13:7).

The holy

(Jude 14)

one incites his fellow angels to God's appointed work (compare

Re 14:15, 18).

beasts get away from under it--It shall no longer afford them shelter

(Eze 31:12).

15. stump--The kingdom is still reserved secure for him at last,

as a tree stump secured by a hoop of brass and iron from being split by

the sun's heat, in the hope of its growing again

(Isa 11:1;

compare

Job 14:7-9).

BARNES refers it to the chaining of the royal

maniac.

16. heart--understanding

(Isa 6:10).

times--that is, "years"

(Da 12:7).

"Seven" is the perfect number: a week of years: a complete revolution

of time accompanying a complete revolution in his state of mind.

17. demand--that is, determination; namely, as to the change to

which Nebuchadnezzar is to be doomed. A solemn council of the heavenly

ones is supposed (compare

Job 1:6; 2:1),

over which God presides supreme. His "decree" and "word" are therefore

said to be theirs (compare

Da 4:24,

"decree of the Most High"); "the decree of the watchers," "the word of

the holy ones." For He has placed particular kingdoms under the

administration of angelic beings, subject to Him

(Da 10:13, 20; 12:1).

The word "demand," in the second clause, expresses a distinct idea from

the first clause. Not only as members of God's council

(Da 7:10;

1Ki 22:19;

Ps 103:21;

Zec 1:10)

do they subscribe to His "decree," but that decree is in answer to

their prayers, wherein they demand that every mortal who tries

to obscure the glory of God shall be humbled [CALVIN]. Angels are grieved when God's prerogative is in

the least infringed. How awful to Nebuchadnezzar to know that angels

plead against him for his pride, and that the decree has been passed in

the high court of heaven for his humiliation in answer to angels'

demands! The conceptions are moulded in a form peculiarly

adapted to Nebuchadnezzar's modes of thought.

the living--not as distinguished from the dead, but from the

inhabitants of heaven, who "know" that which the men of the world need

to the taught

(Ps 9:16);

the ungodly confess there is a God, but would gladly confine Him to

heaven. But, saith Daniel, God ruleth not merely there, but "in the

kingdom of men."

basest--the lowest in condition

(1Sa 2:8;

Lu 1:52).

It is not one's talents, excellency, or noble birth, but God's will,

which elevates to the throne. Nebuchadnezzar abased to the dunghill,

and then restored, was to have in himself an experimental proof of this

(Da 4:37).

19. Daniel . . . Belteshazzar--The use of the Hebrew as well as

the Chaldee name, so far from being an objection, as some have made

it, is an undesigned mark of genuineness. In a proclamation to "all people," and one designed to honor the God of the Hebrews,

Nebuchadnezzar would naturally use the Hebrew name (derived from

El, "God," the name by which the prophet was best known among his

countrymen), as well as the Gentile name by which he was known in the

Chaldean empire.

astonied--overwhelmed with awe at the terrible import of the dream.

one hour--the original means often "a moment," or "short time," as

in

Da 3:6, 15.

let not the dream . . . trouble thee--Many despots would have punished

a prophet who dared to foretell his overthrow. Nebuchadnezzar

assures Daniel he may freely speak out.

the dream be to them that hate thee--We are to desire the prosperity

of those under whose authority God's providence has placed us

(Jer 29:7).

The wish here is not so much against others, as for the king: a common

formula

(2Sa 18:32).

It is not the language of uncharitable hatred.

20. The tree is the king. The branches, the

princes. The leaves, the soldiers. The fruits, the

revenues. The shadow, the protection afforded to dependent

states.

22. It is thou--He speaks pointedly, and without circumlocution

(2Sa 12:7).

While pitying the king, he uncompromisingly pronounces his sentence of

punishment. Let ministers steer the mean between, on the one hand,

fulminations against sinners under the pretext of zeal, without any

symptom of compassion; and, on the other, flattery of sinners under the

pretext of moderation.

to the end of the earth--

(Jer 27:6-8).

To the Caspian, Euxine, and Atlantic seas.

24. decree of the Most High--What was termed in

Da 4:17

accurately termed by Daniel, "the decree of the Most High." They

are but His ministers.

25. they shall drive thee--a Chaldee idiom for "thou

shalt be driven." Hypochondriacal madness was his malady, which "drove"

him under the fancy that he was a beast, to "dwell with the beasts";

Da 4:34

proves this, "mine understanding returned." The regency would leave him

to roam in the large beast-abounding parks attached to the palace.

eat grass--that is, vegetables, or herbs in general

(Ge 3:18).

they shall wet thee--that is, thou shalt be wet.

till thou know, &c.--

(Ps 83:17, 18;

Jer 27:5).

26. thou shalt have known, &c.--a promise of spiritual grace to him,

causing the judgment to humble, not harden, his heart.

heavens do rule--The plural is used, as addressed to

Nebuchadnezzar, the head of an organized earthly kingdom, with various

principalities under the supreme ruler. So "the kingdom of heaven"

(Mt 4:17;

Greek, "kingdom of the heavens") is a manifold

organization, composed of various orders of angels, under the Most High

(Eph 1:20, 21; 3:10;

Col 1:16).

27. break off--as a galling yoke

(Ge 27:40);

sin is a heavy load

(Mt 11:28).

The Septuagint and Vulgate translate not so well,

"redeem," which is made an argument for Rome's doctrine of the

expiation of sins by meritorious works. Even translate it so, it can

only mean; Repent and show the reality of thy repentance by works of

justice and charity (compare

Lu 11:41);

so God will remit thy punishment. The trouble will be longer before it

comes, or shorter when it does come. Compare the cases of Hezekiah,

Isa 38:1-5;

Nineveh,

Jon 3:5-10;

Jer 18:7, 8.

The change is not in God, but in the sinner who repents. As the king

who had provoked God's judgments by sin, so he might avert it by a

return to righteousness (compare

Ps 41:1, 2;

Ac 8:22).

Probably, like most Oriental despots, Nebuchadnezzar had oppressed the

poor by forcing them to labor in his great public works without

adequate remuneration.

if . . . lengthening of . . . tranquillity--if haply thy present

prosperity shall be prolonged.

29. twelve months--This respite was granted to him to leave him without

excuse. So the hundred twenty years granted before the flood

(Ge 6:3).

At the first announcement of the coming judgment he was alarmed, as Ahab

(1Ki 21:27),

but did not thoroughly repent; so when judgment was not executed at

once, he thought it would never come, and so returned to his former

pride

(Ec 8:11).

in the palace--rather, upon the (flat) palace roof, whence he could

contemplate the splendor of Babylon. So the heathen historian,

ABYDENUS,

records. The palace roof was the scene of the fall of another king

(2Sa 11:2).

The outer wall of Nebuchadnezzar's new palace embraced six miles; there

were two other embattled walls within, and a great tower, and three

brazen gates.

30. Babylon, that I have built--HERODOTUS

ascribes the building of Babylon to Semiramis and Nitocris, his

informant under the Persian dynasty giving him the Assyrian and

Persian account. BEROSUS and ABYDENUS give the Babylonian account, namely, that

Nebuchadnezzar added much to the old city, built a splendid palace and

city walls. HERODOTUS, the so-called "father of

history," does not even mention Nebuchadnezzar. (Nitocris, to whom he

attributes the beautifying of Babylon, seems to have been

Nebuchadnezzar's wife). Hence infidels have doubted the Scripture

account. But the latter is proved by thousands of bricks on the plain,

the inscriptions of which have been deciphered, each marked

"Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar." "Built," that is, restored

and enlarged

(2Ch 11:5, 6).

It is curious, all the bricks have been found with the stamped face

downwards. Scarcely a figure in stone, or tablet, has been dug out of

the rubbish heaps of Babylon, whereas Nineveh abounds in them;

fulfilling

Jer 51:37,

"Babylon shall become heaps." The "I" is emphatic, by

which he puts himself in the place of God; so the "my . . .

my." He impiously opposes his might to God's, as though God's

threat, uttered a year before, could never come to pass. He would be

more than man; God, therefore, justly, makes him less than man. An

acting over again of the fall; Adam, once lord of the world and the

very beasts

(Ge 1:28;

so Nebuchadnezzar

Da 2:38),

would be a god

(Ge 3:5);

therefore he must die like the beasts

(Ps 82:6; 49:12).

The second Adam restores the forfeited inheritance

(Ps 8:4-8).

31. While, &c.--in the very act of speaking, so that there could be

no doubt as to the connection between the crime and the punishment. So

Lu 12:19, 20.

O king . . . to thee it is spoken--Notwithstanding thy kingly power, to thee thy doom is now spoken, there is to be no further

respite.

33. driven from men--as a maniac fancying himself a wild beast. It

is possible, a conspiracy of his nobles may have co-operated towards his

having been "driven" forth as an outcast.

hairs . . . eagles' feathers--matted together, as the hair-like, thick

plumage of the ossifraga eagle. The "nails," by being left uncut for

years, would become like "claws."

34. lifted up mine eyes unto heaven--whence the "voice" had issued

(Da 4:31)

at the beginning of his visitation. Sudden mental derangement often has

the effect of annihilating the whole interval, so that, when reason

returns, the patient remembers only the event that immediately preceded

his insanity. Nebuchadnezzar's looking up towards heaven was the first

symptom of his "understanding" having "returned." Before, like the

beasts, his eyes had been downward to the earth. Now, like Jonah's

(Jon 2:1, 2, 4)

out of the fish's belly, they are lifted up to heaven in prayer. He

turns to Him that smiteth him

(Isa 9:13),

with the faint glimmer of reason left to him, and owns God's justice in

punishing him.

praised . . . him--Praise is a sure sign of a soul spiritually healed

(Ps 116:12, 14;

Mr 5:15, 18, 19).

I . . . honoured him--implying that the cause of his chastisement was

that he had before robbed God of His honor.

everlasting dominion--not temporary or mutable, as a human king's

dominion.

35. all . . . as nothing--

(Isa 40:15, 17).

according to his will in . . . heaven--

(Ps 115:3; 135:6;

Mt 6:10;

Eph 1:11).

army--the heavenly hosts, angels and starry orbs (compare

Isa 24:21).

none . . . stay his hand--literally, "strike His hand." Image from

striking the hand of another, to check him in doing anything

(Isa 43:13; 45:9).

What doest thou--

(Job 9:12;

Ro 9:20).

36. An inscription in the East India Company's Museum is read as

describing the period of Nebuchadnezzar's insanity [G. V. SMITH]. In the so-called standard inscription read by

SIR H. RAWLINSON,

Nebuchadnezzar relates that during four (?) years he ceased to lay out

buildings, or to furnish with victims Merodach's altar, or to clear out

the canals for irrigation. No other instance in the cuneiform

inscriptions occurs of a king recording his own inaction.

my counsellors . . . sought unto me--desired to have

me, as formerly, to be their head, wearied with the anarchy which

prevailed in my absence (compare Note, see on

Da 4:33);

the likelihood of a conspiracy of the nobles is confirmed by this

verse.

majesty was added--My authority was greater than ever before

(Job 42:12;

Pr 22:4;

"added,"

Mt 6:33).

37. praise . . . extol . . . honour--He heaps word on word, as if he

cannot say enough in praise of God.

all whose works . . . truth . . . judgment--that is, are true and just

(Re 15:3; 16:7).

God has not dealt unjustly or too severely with me; whatever I have

suffered, I deserved it all. It is a mark of true contrition to condemn

one's self, and justify God

(Ps 51:4).

those that walk in pride . . . abase--exemplified in me. He condemns

himself before the whole world, in order to glorify God.